Aleksandar Vučić: Let’s not go back to the ’90s

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, a former nationalist radical turned pro-western reformer, faces a crucial parliamentary election this month that promises to cement his position as the region’s dominant political force. Since rising to power just two years ago, Vučić has established himself as Europe’s most-trusted partner in a volatile region. Even as he has cozied up to Brussels and Washington, he has maintained close ties with Moscow, straddling an increasingly treacherous diplomatic divide. Last week he sat down in his Belgrade office with POLITICO Chief Europe Correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig to discuss the elections and the latest crosswinds in the Balkans. What follows is an edited transcript.

Q: You live in a dangerous neighborhood. What’s the biggest threat to the region’s stability at the moment?

A: In the whole region you have a real rise of extremist forces. Extremist ideas are something that will kill us all in the Balkans, something that will ruin our still very fragile democratic societies.

I can feel it better than anybody else because I used to be part of that kind of movement. In the 1990s we were always waiting for something, to repay the debts of the past. I can see the same atmosphere in some other nations in the region. I can smell it. I can feel it.

Where in particular?

My biggest worry is the situation in Bosnia…everything that is in and around Bosnia…. Who knows what spark might ignite Bosnia?

What about Kosovo?

It is not a part of the western Balkans, a part of my country under the Serbian constitution, that worries me the most. I don’t see any possibility for future clashes in Kosovo.

I’m not ashamed of my past, but I’ve admitted my mistakes, publicly.

What effect have the recent Hague war tribunal verdicts had on the political climate here?

Since [mid] March it has looked from time to time as though we were back in the nineties. The only important topics here were the Karadžić verdict, the Bosnia-Serbia relationship, the Serbia-Croatia relationship and when were we going to start with real conciliation. It’s a kind of time machine.

Much of the extreme rhetoric we’ve seen in the Balkans in recent weeks has come from Serbian nationalists. You’re in the midst of a parliamentary election campaign. How do you convince Serbs not to vote for the extremists?

Previously I didn’t refer to them. I had to change my campaign, to change my speeches to point out, to underline to every single person in this country how important it is not to vote for those people, that it can ruin all of our economic efforts and everything we’ve already accomplished.

What would be our choice? To go back to the nineties, to ruin our economy, to ruin our living standards? I just cannot imagine that someone would choose the past instead of the future.

Do you find you have more credibility in confronting the extreme right, given your own history as an ultranationalist?

I’m not ashamed of my past, but I’ve admitted my mistakes, publicly.

Many people felt the same. They believe in me today because they had the same feelings, the same political attitudes, the same political stance and now they are different. We are changed.

Your critics see you in the tradition of Balkan strongmen and say you called elections two years early in order to consolidate your hold on power and take advantage of the opposition’s disarray. Are they right?

What would I do with that power? Rule the country for what? Myself? I don’t see any reason for that. We’re a democratic country. We want to take as many people as possible with us to share the burden of tough reforms. It would be very stupid if I would stay alone on that.

So you’re saying you would build a government coalition even if, as some polls project, you secure an absolute majority in the elections this month?

I would like to make a coalition, regardless of the numbers we get because politics is not mathematics. I’ll find different partners because we need to turn our program, our plans into deeds and that’s it.

Merkel showed real leadership. She took care of the Balkans, she tried to take care of the migrant crisis when all the others only took care of themselves.

Until recently Serbia was on the front lines of the refugee crisis. With the Balkan Route now closed, do you expect the calm to continue?

I see it as a short break. We’ll face more problems in the future. We need to find a comprehensive solution for all of Europe.

We are ready and will be ready to take part in our responsibility although we’re not an EU state.

What does that mean exactly? Is Serbia prepared to take in refugees?

We would be willing to take in 10,000 in a quota system, but others would also have to take some.

We have no problems with it. We had the same case with our Serbs from the former Yugoslavia. We know how those people actually feel. We will always show a normal, humane face.

And yet went along with Austria’s initiative to close the Balkan Route.

What we can offer to those people? To be a parking lot? Greece can get some support from the EU. We wouldn’t get it.

You’ve worked closely with Angela Merkel during the refugee crisis. What’s your impression of her?

Merkel showed real leadership. She took care of the Balkans, she tried to take care of the migrant crisis when all the others only took care of themselves.

She was a kind of glue for all of us. She understood the importance of the western Balkans. I consider her to be the true leader of Europe and I’m not ashamed to say that.

Much of the debate in Europe right now is over how effective the EU’s deal with Turkey will be in stemming the migration. Why are you so pessimistic?

It’s just a question of techniques. You can’t keep people in a bottle if they want to come out. But I’m just a small guy from the Balkans. There are smarter people in Europe.